I love huge stories told in few words.

 

Kings of Aram and Israel were at war.

 

King of Aram privately conferred war maneuvers with his officers.

 

Elisha, man of God, immediately warned King of Israel about those privately made plans.

 

Over. And over. Again.

 

How did he do that???

 

King of Aram suspected traitors in his ranks

 

“It’s not us, my lord the king,”

     one of the officers replied.

“Elisha, the prophet in Israel,

     tells the king of Israel

     even the words you speak

     in the privacy of your bedroom!”

2 Kings 6:12

 

How did they know that???

 

King of Aram sent soldiers to seize Elisha.

 

Elisha’s servant was terrified by the great multitude of troops,     horses, and chariots.

 

“Don’t be afraid!”

     Elisha told him.

“For there are more

     on our side

     than on theirs!”

2 Kings 6:16

 

How did Elisha know that???

 

Then Elisha prayed,

     “O Lord, open his eyes

     and let him see!”

The Lord opened the young man’s eyes,

     and when he looked up,

     he saw that the hillside around Elisha

     was filled with horses and chariots of fire.

2 Kings 6:17

 

How could I forget God does this for me too???

 

I grew up drinking Southern sweet tea…the kind where you didn’t measure how much cane sugar you poured from its brown paper bag into the pitcher. You just poured until you figured you’d reached saturation level—too little and it wasn’t sweet enough…too much and you’d end up with grainy sugar at the bottom. Then you poured boiling hot, strong black tea over the sugar, stirred, and filled the pitcher with cold tap water.

 

I grimace now to even think about drinking that much sugar.

 

I love unsweetened tea; and always order mine with lots and lots of extra ice. It’s so frustrating to go through a drive through, pull out of the parking lot, take a long drink and then discover it’s sweet sweet Southern tea. I’ve thought of spitting it out, but I haven’t. Yet.

 

Sometimes I hold up the cars behind me while I taste my tea before I leave the window. There’s no other way to be sure that my order is correct because I can’t see or smell the sugar; and if I want to know for sure, I have to test it.

 

Dear friends,

     do not believe everyone

     who claims to speak by the Spirit.

You must test them

     to see if the spirit they have

     comes from God.

For there are many false prophets

     in the world.

1 John 4:1-5

 

 

Taste tests are best.

 

 

Our family has a long history of silly exchanges with telemarketers. Dan was the champ; and would nearly always stay on the line until the exasperated caller hung up on him.

 

Years ago our sister-in-law’s phone company promoted a Friends and Family calls program; and she received a discount by giving them our name and number. They called and within minutes Dan had the lady convinced he believed she was calling to give him bad news about his family in Missouri. He repeatedly refused to understand her assurances to the contrary and nearly drove the poor lady to tears.

 

Another caller promised him $1500 if he could name the three colors of the American flag. He hum-hawed aloud before finally saying he thought one color was red. The telemarketer encouraged him to continue. Then he agonizingly hmmm hmmm’d for a while before saying he thought maybe the next color was white. The caller, really wanting the sale, excitedly encouraged him to name the final color. Dan said that he’d seen a flag just the other day….and man, oh man, if he could only just remember what color it was….then he finally guessed green. The guy hung up on him.

 

The calls I receive these days are more along the lines of tele-scammers instead of tele-marketers. I’ve gone the gamut from not saying a word to being sarcastic and rude before hanging up. But I don’t really like to do that even though they are trying to steal my computer passwords, credit cards and identify.

 

So I decided to take a new approach. I’m polite, but non-committal as I listen to their spiel. Then I turn the tables and ask them if they ever pray. This always catches the caller off guard, but so far, they’ve all said yes.

 

One caller even volunteered that he’d had dreams about Jesus and that Jesus had told him he should call and help the people with their computer problems.

 

That made me smile, but I told him that I didn’t think Jesus would really say that, but that maybe Jesus did want him to talk to me.

 

And then I talked about God and Jesus and faith. And he was still with me after that, so I read him the prayer that Dan prayed at the end of each church service.

 

He very respectfully ended our call; and I was smiling when I hung up.

 

As Elijah stood sheltered in a mountain cave in the presence of the LORD…

 

…a great and powerful wind

     tore the mountains apart

     and shattered the rocks

     before the Lord,

     but the Lord was not in the wind.

After the wind there was an earthquake,

     but the Lord was not in the earthquake.

After the earthquake came a fire,

     but the Lord was not in the fire.

And after the fire came a gentle whisper.

1 Kings 19:11-12

 

After he shattered the immovable; shook the earth’s foundation; flashed flames of fire; and set Elijah’s senses to high alert…

 

…then God whispered.

 

 

What a powerful God I serve. He moves heaven and earth to get my attention; and paints himself with word pictures to let me know his incredible power and invisible presence.

 

Sometimes when he speaks, it’s so clear and nuanced that I’ve no doubt it’s his voice.

 

But other times this unfathomable God, who tabernacles with me, doesn’t speak. So then I try to be very quiet; and use Scripture and common sense to discern what he’s telling me.

 

Because…

 

Who among the gods

     is like you, Lord?

Who is like you—

     majestic in holiness,

     awesome in glory,

     working wonders?

Exodus 15:11

 

Kind words are like honey—

   sweet to the soul

     and healthy for the body.

Proverbs 16:24

 

Good memories are also a little like honey—sweet, sticky, and healthy for the heart.

 

When I told my son I was replacing my truly awful, and original-to-his-childhood, vinyl and carpet floors, he said:

 

Those old floors have just had a lot of memories spilled on them over the years.

 

No argument there.

 

From leaky baby bottles to farm boots clumped with red mud…

 

…from smoky bonfire clothes piled high by the back door to cowboy boots two-steppin’ across the kitchen…

 

…from Curious George waltzes in the living room to kitchen cabinet door climbs up to the big window ledge…

 

Every memory covered scratch, scuff, and stain in the house told part of a laughter-filled love story that I wouldn’t have exchanged for any amount of perceived perfection.

 

We marked our house as we lived and raised our family here; and it occurred to me, the evening before my new floors were to be installed, that I really really wanted to do more of the same.

 

 

…Unless the LORD builds a house,

     the work of the builders is wasted…

Psalm 127:1